evolution
noun
Simple meaning
The gradual development or change of something over time
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehvuhlooshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɛvəˈluʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
biology
The transformation of animals, plants and other living things into different forms (now understood as a change in genetic composition) by the accumulation of changes over successive generations.
Development; the act or result of developing what was implicit in an idea, argument etc.
A process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage)
Process of development.
A process of gradual change in a given system, subject, product etc., especially from simpler to more complex forms.
A change of position.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The transformation of animals, plants and other living things into different forms (now understood as a change in genetic composition) by the accumulation of changes over successive generations.
Used this way, evolution is a specialist word with a clearly warm, approving pull. This is a scientific use: it names something precisely within a field of study, so it appears in research and teaching more than in conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Successful and accomplished
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Science
- Academic writing
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- phylogenesis , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Related to The transformation of animals, plants and other living things into different forms (now understood as a change in genetic composition) by the accumulation of changes over…
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.